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Category Archives: Orvieto

Tivoli and B&B Il Gardino

B&B Il Gardino’s Entrance, Tivoli

Common Area, B&B Il Gardino, Tivoli

We awoke early for us, enjoyed a leisurely shower, and went down for breakfast. The buffet breakfast was quite varied. “Would you like coffee?” “Due cappuccino, per favore.” though we could have spoken English. I really appreciated the fresh fruit that greeted us at table. The cappuccinos were great.

As we often do we walked the town of Tivoli in the morning. There were a few people out for a morning stroll or coffee. The town felt deserted. We left for Civita Bagnoregio around 10am.

Bagnoregio on an Italian National Holiday

Bagnoregio is Perched on a Small Hilltop

Traffic on the autostrada was unusually heavy today and moving as congested traffic does. We came to a near stop or a full stop innumerable times. Sometimes traffic would zoom at the speed limit and two kilometers come to a complete halt for minutes at a time. I’d expect to come upon an accident, but there would be no indication that anything was wrong aside from the traffic.

Our GPS piped up with “take slick road on right in 2 kilometers toward…” I pulled to the right lane saw that traffic was queuing in the break down lane for the exit and pulled in line just in time. Traffic moved at a snail’s pace. After an hour we were approaching the turnoff and one of the holdups became apparent. For every car in line that exited the autostrada, here were two cars who cut the very head of the line. That was infuriating.

The second bottleneck was traffic merging from the left accessing the toll booths. There were two lines of traffic darting in, around, and through each other.

Third up? The toll gates themselves. Two were closed and two were open; one open for cash, the other for telepass. Cars accessing the cash lane were blocking the telepass lane and telepass holders were blocking the cash lane. Madness.

Finally my turn after cutting of a guy trying to cut in front of me. That’s not going to happen after waiting 90 minutes. Up to the booth attendant with my ticket. He’s on the phone. He takes my ticket and 3,40 shows on the display. Great I hand him a 5 and fish for 40 cents. He takes the five, still talking on the phone and does nothing. I found the 40 cents to get an even 2 euros back a tried to hand it over. He’s still talking on the phone. “Sigonore, per favore” nothing, this guy is “busy”. “Signore, please take this 40 cents” nothing.. I’m sure traffic behind me is convince I’m a total idiot by now. “Allora, Signore, please take this 40 cents too” It wasn’t a shout, but I did raise my voice. He moved the phone away from his ear, glowered at me, and released a stream of Italian the gist of which was I’m on the phone talking about this traffic backup. You could wait. He did take the 40 cents and give me 2 euros. I was free…

The back roads to Bagnoregio were traffic free! I had this haunting feeling that something was happening that I was not aware of. Why so much traffic on the autostrada? We we approached Bagnoregio, I could not believe what I saw. Driving toward the lower parking area, the streets were lined with parked cars. In the lower part of the new town, there were people milling about every where. Car parking areas were full. We eventually found a parking yard with an opening and grabbed it.

The pay kiosk was broken another dilemma. Do we park elsewhere and not get ticketed for sure, or do we simply walk on hoping for the best? We walked on, joining a stream of people headed to Bagnoregio. Now Civita Bagnoregio is a very small town that sits on a precipice. Access to the town is across a long picturesque pedestrian bridge. To access that bridge, you first park, walk up steps to the upper town, walk through the town eventually to access to that pedestrian bridge. The crowds were staggering. Walking through the town we joined a throbbing throng of people moving toward the pedestrian bridge; with another stream of people returning. It’s about a 1 kilometer walk through the town. This was like being at a world fair, it was so crowded. Everyone was speaking Italian.

Bagnoregio is Quite Dramatic

Crowded? Pieno, Pieno, Pieno!

Look closely at the crowd crossing the footbridge to the city in the photo above. It turned out that today, the day after Easter, is a national holiday. Half of Rome had come to visit Bagnoregio. We eventually reached access to the pedestrian bridge, but seeing the crowd crossing the bridge it became apparent that a relaxed lunch in Bagnoregio admiring the town and its views was not going happen. There was no way we could stand the crowds. We left having taken a few photos of the town and the crowds.

The Foreground Appears Uncrowded, a Bus had just Gone Past!

Upper “Bagnoregio” men’s & women’s Line

We both needed to use a Toilette. The line near the Bagnoregio foot bridge was excessively long. We moved quickly back through the new town and down the stairs to find a men’s and woman’s line. Predictably the men’s line was four deep, the woman’s nearly twelve. Ellen, “is there a door in the men’s room?” After checking, “yes” and she waited in the men’s line with me to the shock of one fellow in particular.

The Lower Women’s Line

Ellen used the Men’s Room, One Guy was Not Amused!

Back at the alfa, we had no parking ticket. There was traffic! There were people looking for parking and those leaving. We left and dialed in Orvieto as our destination. We were off. Ellen asked if I was ok leaving Bagnoregio without actually seeing the city. Of Course, the mass of people was a complete disaster. No way would I have wanted to continue.

We stopped at a service center on the autostrada to get gas and maybe a bite to eat. I drove past the entrance for the food court and drove through the exit to park. No harm done, nobody was coming out. The food selection at the food court was extensive, from pizza by the slice to made to order pasta dishes. A fellow overheard us talking about the pizza and he said, “the pizza is good”. We opted for a slice of pizza. Crust makes a pizza. My pepperoni/salami pizza slice was good, but the crust was not crunchy. Ellen’s was crunchy and much better. Full up, we filled the car up too.

Orvieto

Orvieto, Prominent in the City is the Duomo

The drive to orvieto went very smoothly until we reached Orvieto. Rick Steves had recommended parking at the funicular and taking it up to the city. Parking in the city is limited and expensive. Right. So we drove up a winding road looking for the funicular. I stopped and asked an attractive woman police woman (comment about Italian Woman discreetly left out) where we would find the Funicular. She was very helpful and precise.”a sinistra, allora diretto e a destra” motioning in the general direction of left. Off we went following her directions and surprisingly we did not find the funicular, but we found a parking garage. We parked, dragged our luggage out of the car, and headed out in search of the Funicular.

The policemen directing traffic either did not understand English or couldn’t be bothered. Ellen approached a group on a corner and asked were we would find the fu NIK u lar. They looked at each other, clearly not understanding what Ellen was asking. I have no idea where this sprang from but I blurted out, “FU nick u LA re” Instant recognition sprang upon one gal’s face. She pointed down the hill, “e la”, she said proudly. In Italian accent is everything. The difference between so prah SEt to and so pra SAH to is the difference between getting a blank stare or a great sausage.

Down we trundled over cobblestone, Ellen dragging her suitcase, me with my duffle bag over my shoulder. We found an expansive parking lot, the entrance to the Funicular, and a ticket office. “due biglietti, per favore” and we stepped into a crowded car with standing room only. Ellen and I were separated in the car. Eventually there was a beep, the doors closed, and the Funicular lurched downward. DOWN? We are going DOWN? It occurred to me that we probably drove up to parking in the city. There was no need to take the Funicular. None. I didn’t want to look at Ellen; didn’t want to know what she was thinking!

When the Funicular hit bottom, we stayed aboard as others boarded. A bit later the doors closed and we were headed back to Orvieto.

We took no photos of the Funicular. We were disgusted with it/us.

We dragged our bags up past our parking area, up and up. Eventually Ellen approached a good looking Italian fellow and asked where the Grand Hotel Italy was. He said, in very good English, this street takes you to a square. The hotel is just past the square on this street I believe. We had arrived, almost. Those last 200 meters were torture.

Orvieto and Grand Hotel Italia

We Found Orvieto’s Duomo

The hotel is well located in Orvieto’s centro storico. It is a comfortable if modest hotel situated just off Piazza del Popolo. We had a standard room of moderate size with a nicely appointed bathroom. Lunch was a vague memory, we were hungry again. We asked at the desk where we could get an authentic local meal. “On Piazza del Popolo, just nearby, is Mamma Angela’s. That is the best.”

Mamma Angela’s

It Was Too Cold to Sit Outside

We walked had walked past that piazza on our way to the hotel. Finding the restaurant was no problem, but it did not look open. Approaching a fellow setting up outside seating, I asked, “E aperto?” to which I heard “No, aperto alle sette quindici. Vuoi una prenotazione allora?” “Si, alle otto?” and the waiter made a gesture saying I’ll remember you while saying, “recordo”. We had forty minutes time to walk some of Orvieto. The church on the square is interesting, though we had seen a clock tower nearby. Off we went in search of something. That something was the Orvieto’s duomo. It is an impressive structure in white and gray stone similar to Firenze’s duomo. It was closed. We returned to Osteria da Mamma Angela at 7:15 sharp, hoping to be seated early. “Buongiorno, interno all’esterno?” “La, per favore” I said pointing inside while avoiding the whole interno issue. We were seated and given menus in Italian. Ellen asked his name. “Luca” Ellen asked “Luca, with two ‘c’s’?” “no, one c, Luca”. Luca is one of the owners.

Mamma Angela’s Italian Menu

Cool, We were well into translating the menu with my “Italian phone” when a waitress came over and asked if we would like an English menu. Sure, let’s do that. Apparently, I had spoken enough Italian convincingly that the first fellow thought I spoke Italian. Cool, if counter productive!”

Mamma Angela’s Ravioli

Mamma Angela’s Osso Bucco

The English menu was so much easier to decipher, though we still had questions about ingredients. Included on the menu was Osso Bucco. I love osso bucco. Ellen even commented that it was on the menu. Ellen ordered Mamma Angela’s Ravioli. We had house wine which was exceedingly good. My osso bucco was not nearly as tender I had expected. Like the pasta, the beef was al denti. It was perfectly seasoned with just the right touch of finely chopped carrots. I assume celery and onion as well, though they mostly dissolved in the sauce. I have since learned that chianina is the local breed of Tuscan cattle. It is a tougher meat than angus. The Italians prefer a chewy beef to the tender beef we eat in the U.S. My osso bucco was no doubt from Chiania beef. It was very tasty and very resilient! The osso bucco was good. Ellen’s really enjoyed here ravioli.

Cheese Cake, and the Topping? Excellente!

Our waitress tempted us with a desert list. We settled on cheese cake. The cake was wonderful, but the fruit topping was amazing.

Inside Mamma Angela’s

Italy and Wines

A word about Italy and wines. Italy has more acreage cultivated for grapes than any country in the world. It produces more wine than any other country. Surprisingly, most of Italy’s wine is produced by small family wineries producing wine for local consumption, akin to Germany’s local breweries. Most of these do not produce wine in sufficient quantities for a large export market. The wine is consumed locally. Therefore Italian wines are virtually unknown in the U.S. Only people who travel to Italy and sample the wines from the various regions come to appreciate both the quality and variety of these wines. I have had some extremely good glasses of house wine produced locally in small volume I’m sure. No doubt I will have a mixed case of wine (or two) shipped back home.

Typical for us, we left Mamma Angela’s happy, tired, and sated. Unusual for us, our walk back to the hotel was short, flat, and with no stairs.

In retrospect, today was a very full day. We touched on so many things: historical, culinary, visual. From the beach to a hill top town, from 1st century BC to a local bar playing beach boys. We had one miss and one near disaster (that wasn’t). Everything else was perfect. What a glorious day!

Virgilio Grand Hotel

The Hotel Entrance

The Lounge, the Virgilio Hotel Is Modern

Breakfast was included at Hotel Poseidon. We ate at the hotel and walked the old town of Sperlonga one more time. Ellen said, “I could stay here a month” Sperlonga is a beautiful community, though there might not be enough cultural events for a months stay.

It Was Too Cold To Setup Breakfast Outside

Tropical Pizza, Highly Rated but Slow Food?

A Pictorial Walk Around Sperlonga

Tiberius’ Villa, Sperlonga

Sperlonga Seen From Tiberius’ Villa

The Path to the Ruins of Tiberius’ Villa, Sperlonga

The hotel concierge strongly advised that we visit Tiberius’ Villa and Grotto, which is a few kilometers south of Sperlonga. I knew tiberius had a villa atop the blue grotto with a stairway down into the grotto, but not about Sperlonga! Back at the hotel, we brought our luggage down and I went out back for the car. It was GONE! It was simply not there! Not here, not around the corner, GONE!

I frantically went back to the hotel desk, “scusi, my car is gone!” “oh, we moved it down stairs. It’s on level –2.” Whew! And it was on level –2.

Walking the Ruins, Sperlonga

Driving to Tiberius’ Villa, meant retracing our drive south about three kilometers. The turn off for parking is not well marked. The first clue the driver has something is coming up is the bus parking to the left you notice just as you drive by a small blue “P” and arrow to the right. Down the road some there are place to turn around. Even knowing where the turn in for parking is, it is easy to drive by. The entrance is quite small. You drive down a short steep road. The road goes straight take a turn to the right and park in a dirt/grass area. We found the last parking space. I thought we might be parked in when we leave.

Raised pools, Tiberius’ Grotto, Sperlonga

Water Once Flowed Through The Pipes (holes)

A Statue Left Outside (hard to access?)

The entrance to the villa from the parking area is not marked at all. From parking you walk 100 meters to an access road. Left takes you back to the main road. Right takes you down to the sea. “Scusi, dov’e la villa di Tiberius? e la?” (pointing to the right). “No e la” (fellow points to the left) That saved us a walk down to the sea and back! Up to the Villa.

Close-up of the Ancient Pipes

Fishing Here Is Still Good!

Small Fish in the Lower Pool

Large Fish in the Upper Pool

Our Single Busload of Tourists

The Ruins a Different Perspective

Ellen, Having a Great Time!

View from Tiberius’ Lair: Sperlonga & Ellen

Description of Tiberius’ Grotto, In Italian Of Course

Instead we found the entrance to a museum. “Dov’e la villa di Tiverius?” It worked once, lt’s see what the museum official says. “e qui”. Cool, in we go. You pay a few euro to tour both the museum which houses incredible status and then tour the grounds of the ruins of what once was Tiberius’ Villa. Tiberius knew how to position his homes. This on is situated on a relatively flat expanse that runs right to the sea. To the left is a grotto. To the right is the Lido that leads to Sperlonga. It’s a moderate walk from here to there. Directly in front of the villa, now ruins, is a rocky seafront. There was a fellow spear fishing on the rocks. The fishing must be pretty good. The grotto pools with their array of huge fish were fenced off.

Some English at the bottom!

Location of Statues in Tiberius’ Grotto

The statues in the museum depict scenes from Homer’s Odysseus. The Slaying of the cyclops is very well sculpted in white marble. It is a huge statue with many parts. Interestingly Tiberius had these statues placed in the grotto. Tiberius himself had living space in the grotto. The museum is small. It houses the statues that were recovered from the cave.

Odyusseus and the Cyclops

Cyclops, Close Up

How The Art Might Have Looked

What is Left Today

It is a short walk to the entrance to Tiberius’ Villa, which is now a series of low walls marking the boundaries of houses and plazas. It is small compared to Pompeii. Then a villa is quite small compared with a town or city. To me the most amazing thing about the villa is the Grotto. There are two man-made pools fronting the grotto. I imagine one was cold water, the other hot. These look to be fed by a freshwater spring. There is evidence of fire in some places inside the cave. It could be caused by Tiberius’ candles or lamps or perhaps by modern teenagers in the 16oo’s lighting bonfires in the caves. Perhaps both are true.

Marble Come To Life

A tour group arrived with us. Tour groups typically move quickly through sites. This one did as well. Here one moment and headed for the exit the next. “Check, got that one”. Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer to linger in striking places to soak in the history or the beauty of the place (both?). The Grotto faced the perfect sand beach that stretched in an arc for two kilometers. It has access to great rock fishing and fresh water pools. What a wonderful place to relax. I must admit I know very little of Tiberius. Curiosity will drive me to read more about Italy’s roots. It is clear that someone or some group of some ones really had it in for Tiberius. Everything he has touched was severely trashed. It brings to mind current US politics. Basta! (enough of that)

Terracina

The skies had darkened as we walked the ruins. A drop or two fell as we left for our car. The promised rains were coming. I drove on to Terracina with Ellen and our GPS units navigating. We planned to eat lunch in Terracina

Terracina, Coming

It was a dark gray, rainy drive to terracina. Learning from Gaeta, this time I drove along the coast. We found nothing of particular interest in a long drive around and back into town. If there was an old town, we didn’t find it. Headed back out of town we passed a very appealing restaurant on our right. Stop, backup, park. “Do you think we can park here?” “Look, they did. We should be ok”

Terracina, Going!

This is About How We Felt About Terracina, Wet and Out Of Focus

We walked into the restaurant. It was packed. Ellen headed for the Toilette while I tried in vain to get someone’s attention. Perhaps ten minutes later, a fellow who looked like the owner walked by. “Scusi, posso mangiare qui?” “No.” Followed by stream of Italian that was unrecognizable to me. I get this often now. We’ve been given menus in Italian later to have them swapped for the English ones when I becomes apparent we have no idea what’s on the menu. It is Easter today. The restaurant had probably been booked for weeks in advance. No wonder nobody even noticed us when we walked in; or when we walked out. Another day without lunch, but that’s OK. We’re headed to Tivoli.

On the Road

Our car needed to be fed too. We could probably have driven through to Tivoli, but a service stop presented itself and we took it. Cars to the left, trucks to the right: ok. Food to the right gas straight ahead; oops. I drove in the out to get back to the food court. It was an extensive food court with fast food (pizza, calzone, beer), made to order pasta dishes, salads and vegetables, trinkets and souvenir sales. We each had a slice of pizza. Ellen’s was vegetable with a crunchy crust. Mine was cheese and peperoni with a soggy crust. The crust is everything. It was a fair lunch, the least memorable thus far.

Tivoli

Free Street Parking!

Trip Advisor Loves B&B Il Giardino

The View Isn’t That Bad Either.

With the alfa fed, we sped off to Tivoli. There was relatively little traffic; we made very good time. Approching Tivoli we switched from the clueless Garmin to the mostly ok Google Maps (again thank you TIM, Palermo!). Still we drove into town, out of town, back into town, then up the correct street without seeing B&B Il Gardino. “Wow, a parking space”, I zipped in and parked. We found the B&B very close by. The sign was prominent if you are walking by, but not so much if driving. It was mid afternoon when we arrived.

We have a Patio and a View over the Valley

Omar came right away when we rang the front bell. He checked us in and showed us our room. It was comfortable and had a view of the valley over the tops of the homes just below.

An Afternoon Walk Tivoli

Tivoli, the historic town of Tivoli, is small and build on a hill side. We walked the upper city.

Tivoli’s Upper Square

The Arch, Tivoli

We Missed the Castle, Tivoli

Valle D’Este

Tivloi Gardens were open and closing at 7:30. The group of eight ahead of us chose not to enter, it was too expensive. No problem for two @ 8 euro each.

We walked the gardens until we were literally shooed out at 7:20. But I thought they closed at 7:30!

I’m trying WordPress’ album and slideshow feature to see if we like it. Tell us what you think. -ron

Eden 2.0

The sun was sinking low on the horizon as we walked back toward “home”. We had noticed a bar with an appealing view and stepped in to watch sunset over a drink. We were seated at the “window”. There were no windows, just a low railing and an expansive view. Sunset, Beer, and Limoncello: Heaven.

Eden 2.0

Waiting for Our Order, Eden 2.0, Tivoli

A Tivoli Sunset from Eden 2.0’s Balcony

Ristorante Sibilla

Back at the apartment we freshened up and went out for dinner armed with two recommendations for dinner. One for authentic local food, the other with a 10% discount. It was dark by now and we navigated by a tourist map. These maps are next to useless. We managed to find the local food restaurant, but it was closed. Most everything seemed closed on the narrow streets we walked. OK, let’s find the other one. Like streets in Boston, there was no way to know where a street would lead. Some would go straight then zig left. Others connected to the right only. We were lost. We asked directions from two woman who spoke perfect Italian, but no English. Back up the hill and to the left, is what we took away. We went back up the hill, left, then down hill to the river.

I saw a restaurant across the river, but that was not the one recommended. It was il Ciocco, which I remembered as having a great view of the river and waterfall, but not so great food. After dark, there is no view. TIM & ItalPhone to the rescue. Ellen mentioned that they might be closed by now. “Yes, we are open. The kitchen closes at 10. Pronto, Pronto” We arrived at Ristorante Sibilla at 9:20. We were seated right away. Our waiter enjoyed talking with us in English (how hard will it be to learn some Italian?) We had a good time talking with him too. I had a simple classic dish of paste with pecorino cheese and pepper, Ellen had cheese ravioli. My dish was fantastic. The combination of fresh paste, virgin olive oil, some butter, pecorino cheese, and pepper was what Mac&Cheese should be. It was mouthwatering The cheese in Ellen’s ravioli was superb. I very highly recommend Ristorante Sibilla. The house wine was excellent as well.

We found our way home by following the main street uphill to Tivoli’s upper square.